Aug 8, 2012 - Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center near Girdwood

The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, near Girdwood, provides a rehabilitation center for injured wildlife. They also take care of orphaned young animals. Furthermore, it is the site where Wood Bison are being raised for re-introduction into the forests of Alaska in 2013. You're able to get fairly close to most of the animals.

Jul 22, 2012 - On Our Way to Seward

What a great day we had going down the Seward Highway! We left Anchorage on Monday morning about 11:00am with our destination being Seward. Along the way our first stop was the Alyeska Ski Resort. We had a coupon for a ride on the tram to the top of Alyeska Mountain. Rick skied there when he lived in Anchorage and he wanted me to see the great view from the top. So, even though trams (or anything higher than 3 feet off the ground, is not my favorite I said OK. And it was beautiful at the top. I don't know about going up...I didn't look!...

Jul 15, 2012 - beautiful spot

Anchorage provided a great urban fix. The larder is stocked once again and we saw a Second City-ish improv show called “Scared Scriptless” that was laugh-out-loud funny. The tank is full once again with diesel costying only $3.98/gallon. When we started planning this trip last winter, media experts were predicting $5/gallon for this summer and we knew that would mean more like $6/gallon up here. When it comes to economic predictions, the experts don’t seem to know any more about it than we do. We’re glad we didn’t listen. We drove south on...

Jul 23, 2011 - Girdwood, Alaska

About 40 miles south of Anchorage is the small community of Girdwood. Like many of the small villages and towns in Alaska, Girdwood got its start when someone came to pan for gold. In this case, it was James Girdwood who came 1896. Today, Girdwood enjoys tourists during both winter and summer. Surrounded by Chugach National Forest, hiking trails are numerous, fishing is a favorite, and for bicyclists there is the Bird to Gird biking trail. In winter, there are plenty of cross-country ski trails as well as downhill skiing from Alyeska Ski...

Jul 19, 2011 - Heading to Girdwood

7/18 Monday The taxi came and got us at Sadie Cove early so we were unprepared. Tim left his good sunglasses and hip waders there. I hope they find them and mail them back. The water was still choppy and the taxi had to pick up some bikers and kayakers. The captain had some good stokers to tell about crab fishing in rough weather. Once back in the car we started back to Girdwood. I wanted to stop inKenai at the Russian church to purchase a tea pot. I got a great deal compared to Seward. We then found the beach in Niliski to comb for agates....

Jul 1, 2011 - Turnagain Arm & Girdwood, AK.

The further you get from Anchorage the more expensive things get, so after a quick but all important stop at Walmart in Anchorage to stock up on supplies we were off to the Kenai Peninsula. Our destination was Seward but thought that we could get to see Girdwood on the way. Not much chance of getting lost nor is there any necessity for GPS as far as road travel is concerned, not to many roads to choose from up here. Mert and I hit it just right because the Girdwood Forest Fair was underway and in full tilt when we arrived at this cute and...

Jun 25, 2011 - Portage Valley RV Park

Started with a rainy morning so we were a little slow getting on the road. Only got a few miles down the road before we spotted the "Flying Squirrel Cafe" which I had read about and was supposed to be very good. Went in for a pastry but wound up getting a chicken and sausage pot pie for me and curried cauliflower soup for Ann...both of which came with bread baked there at the Cafe in a wood fired brick oven. Stuff was very good!! Its kind of a "granola" type place with some healthy choices and a young clientelle. But then again...there just...

Jun 23, 2011 - Alaska - day 5

6/22/11 – If nothing else, we are creatures of habit. I know we are on vacation, but this morning we went to Denny’s for breakfast. That’s usually the place we end up at on Saturday mornings (even though this was Wednesday). The kids were excited because it was the ‘northern most Dennys in the world’. It was exactly the same as at home, except for the prices. A normal 6.99 breakfast in Pittsburgh was 10.49 here. We saw the same thing at the grocery store in Fairbanks. A watermelon was $14.99! The cheapest ham lunchmeat was 6.99/lb....

Jun 11, 2011 - Girdwood,AK

Didn't leave Wasilla until 1PM after a stop at a yard sale (don't ask), a stop at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters and saying goodbye to Sarah. At the Iditarod Headquarters we checked out some of the sled dogs and watched a short movie on the Iditarod race to Nome. In Anchorage we went to the Anchorage Market & Festival which is an open market with about 300 booths selling a variety of Alaskan-made & Alaskan-grown products. It was free except for the $35 parking ticket I got for not paying the $4 parking fee in advance. Of...

Jul 24, 2009 - Portage Glacier, Girdwood

Portage Glacier is about 50 miles from Anchorage at that mouth of the Kenai peninsula. After our wonderful bear outing we came here for one night dropped the fifth wheel and went exploring. Went to the small town of Hope, small!!! out on the Kenai Penn. old mining town, some fisher people their, and old buildings, so we left and went to Girdwood which is about 35 or so miles from Anchorage. It is a ski resort very much like Squaw Valley. We took the tram up to the top and enjoyed a view of the resort below and some glaciers to the side. It...

Jul 21, 2009 - on the road.....to Girdwood and the beautiful Alyeska Resort

We are happy to be getting out of the big city of Anchorage. There is a lot to do there, and there are a lot of people there. There are just so many other beautiful places we want to explore, so we left the gang and off we go. Our destination is Girdwood, a quaint little village an hour away from Anchorage. Today there are high wind advisories and it is raining. What else is new? We have learned that there is so much you can do when it is raining in Alaska. Even when it is cold, it is not the damp cold we are used to; so we are faring well...

Feb 19, 2009 - Snow Mobiling - Awesome!

Went on 5.5 hour snow mobile tour with Glacier City Snowmobile Tours (www.snowtours.net) - awesome! Tour guide Matt took us to two amazing blue glaciers and into ice caves - and we got up to speeds over 60 mph on the (frozen) river bed ... that was once my very initial teething problems of setting off in reverse and almost hitting a tree had been overcome.